Submerged Values
by DefinitelyNotFeitan
Summary: A one-shot. Kurapika and Chrollo are confined into a small room after being captured by the mafia.


For "kinsdura" on Tumblr.

* * *

"Settle down, everything's going to be fine." Chrollo said, agitated by his companion's pacing.

Exasperated, the blonde looked around.

"No, this doesn't make sense."

"It's simple; the mafia wants us dead, and you're no exception, Kurapika."

"But why me?" he spun around, facing the dark haired man. "I've been on their "side" for a couple years now, and I thought they wouldn't pursue the Phantom Troupe because of their ties with Meteor City."

The other man shrugged, leaning against a wall. The room they occupied was about the size of a powder bathroom, making their situation very… cozy.

"My guess is that we're too strong to be left alive."

"Unbelievable." The Kurta paced what little space they had, his eyebrows scrunched together. "Then why now?"

"Maybe they knew about your goal to eliminate me?"

"I didn't let them know anything. I didn't even…" his voice faltered, his eyes quickly scanning the room for recording devices. Despite not finding any, he kept his voice dropped anyways. "I didn't even go to see Gon, or acknowledge Leorio and Killua as anything more than business associates the last I saw them…" Putting his back against a wall, he slid to the floor, hands over his face.

"Chrollo?"

Surprised to hear his name, he tilted his head, standing a little straighter now. "Yes?" His gut told him he'd regret the inquiry.

"Do you think, I'm a bad person?" While he couldn't see the blonde's face, he could see the tears hitting the floor next to his figure. Both shocked, and unsure of what to do, Chrollo approached him slowly, pinched the bridge of his nose, not really wanting to deal with the situation; however, he knew that it was inevitable if they were going to continue being stuck in here together.

"No, I don't." He replied crouching down, joining Kurapika against the wall.

"Even though I've tried to kill you?"

"Even though you've tried to kill me." He confirmed, nodding his head with the statement.

None of them spoke for a while. Digging into one of his coat pockets, he withdrew a handkerchief, dropping it on the conjurer's head.

"Use that. It's better than trying to use the back of your arm."

Kurapika took it without saying a word, wiping at his face gently.

"Listen. I know this'll probably sound weird coming from me, but I can't bring myself to hate you, or even resent you in the least bit." He heard his companion stop moving, so he continued. "I like your style quite a bit actually. From what I've been told by the other members of the troupe, you're quite considerate towards your friends, and while I realize that you're after us for taking the eyes of your clan, we didn't want for this to happen: we never meant for there to be a survivor, we never meant for there to be a conflict, and we for sure never meant to view you as a human."

"Human?" the word was spoken as if in a daze, but Chrollo responded to it anyways.

"Yes. We began to realize that you simply wanted to exact revenge for your fallen comrades, just as what we had done to start this whole mess. Upon realizing this, I came to the conclusion to not try to fight back with you, but rather to avoid conflict in general. I knew that by killing you, others would try to avenge you, and if someone on my side were to die, we would want to avenge them as well. It would be a never ending cycle, which is why I gave all Troupe member's strict orders not to kill you."

"But why?" The blonde's voice was a bit shaky, but full of curiosity.

Chrollo turned to look at the Kurta, making eye contact before continuing. "Because you're not a bad person. In fact, you're a great person, and while I'm not your friend, I'm still glad to have met you." He smiled, and felt an oddly light, almost genuinely happy. How many times had he imagined explaining this all to someone, and now that it was finally happening, it was happening to just the person who needed to hear it most.

"I-" Kurapika began, but when he went to move forward, they both became hyper aware of their situation. Looking down, the small room was filled with about half a foot of water, and was rapidly rising.

"So they meant to drown us in here." Chrollo glanced up, seeing that the vents in the room were covered now. "Probably when I was talking," he thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his companion rise.

"We need to find a way out."

"With this room putting us into a state of Zetsu, that's a pretty hard feat to complete." Chrollo also stood, irritated that his coat dripped water down the back of his legs. Looking over, he could tell the boy had calmed down quite a bit now. "What do you propose we do?"

"Wait. We know that the walls are fortified, but the ceiling probably isn't. We'll let the water carry us up and then break out through there."

"What happens if it that doesn't work?"

"Then we die." He looked over, a grin on his face now. "I hope you're prepared for that."

Chrollo felt his heart become faint, but he smirked back regardless. "Don't you know? Death is my middle name."

Now that they were conscious of it, the water seemed to be rising a lot faster. As they began their assent to the top, he tried to make some small talk.

"You know, you're actually pretty cute."

"What?"

"I mean it. If we weren't enemies I'd probably have recruited you for the troupe at this point, and if not that…" Chrollo looked away, embarrassed by his own thoughts. He couldn't possibly say what his mind had just conjured.

Despite him not saying it however, Kurapika seemed to get where it was going.

"I see, well, um, about being enemies by the way… we're not." He raised an eyebrow, prompting the Kurta for further explanation.

"I've been doing some thinking myself, and I think that my anger, as I had feared, has actually faded away now. But I can see that I was just being emotional. I mean…" Now it was the blonde's turn to look away. "…it probably wouldn't be too bad to, you know."

They waded in silence, too shy continue what they had both begun to think.

"However this is going to turn out, can I ask of you one thing?"

"What's that?" the blonde inquired, hoping for a new topic as he turned (as one best could in such in an aquatic situation) to his newfound ally.

"Can I kiss you? Even if we don't succeed I want to be able to-" a hand on the specialist's shoulder stopped him.

"You don't have to explain, but yes." The smaller of the two struggled to maintain eye contact to better portray his sincerity. He smiled, probably more out of embarrassment than anything else though with his final answer "You can."

Upon reaching the ceiling, they began to hammer at the wall. Eventually a hole began to appear, and they concentrated their efforts on that one area. Once there was enough room for someone to get through, Kurapika went up, soaking wet. Taking off his outer garments, he reached his hand down for Chrollo to come up, but was denied.

"What are you doing?" Frustration creeping into his voice.

"I'm going to stay here, wait till they drain the room, then kill them all for thinking they could dispose of us that easily."

"That's a suicide mission and you know it. You said it yourself, this room forces you into a state ofZetsu, there's no way to succeed."

Chrollo winked, and half submerged himself, not really able to answer back with logic. It was more a gut feeling that he shouldn't leave with Kurapika, he couldn't really explain it, but he also knew that he didn't have much to fear. He knew he'd see the Kurta sooner than later anyways.

"Fine," the other huffed, knowing that the older man wouldn't change his mind. "Then what about… that thing?"

Knowing what he meant, Chrollo reached towards Kurapika's face, pulling him towards the opening. The water had reached the top of the room now, so taking a deep breath, he went completely under, bringing along half of Kurapika as well. He brought his lips together with the blonde's, enjoying the sensation of being underwater. Deepening the kiss, Kurapika brought his hands up, running his fingers through the specialist's hair. They stayed suspended like that for a moment, forgetting the danger they had recently avoided and just enjoyed each other's company, keeping their lips locked the entire time. When they finally did resurface, Kurapika's cheeks were flushed and Chrollo refused to look at him in fear of making eye contact.

"Well that was…" the spider started, coughing into his hand a bit.

"Exhilarating…" the other finished standing up. "To say the least." He added, covering his face with a hand. "So, I'll see you later I guess."

"Yeah, see you later."

Nodding to himself, the conjurer ran down the hallway like vent system, disappearing after a couple seconds. Chrollo put his arms up on the floor of the vents, smiling to himself out of elation.

"He really is a cute kid."


End file.
